One of the grand challenges of the 21st century is our ability to provide nutritious food to every person on the planet. This is due to global warming and the increased frequency of extreme events, such as floods, fires, and desertification, as well a range of other environmental and social factors, including a lack of arable land to expand farming, soil deterioration, population growth, urbanization, and more. 

A sustainable future requires a series of new functional materials that provide for the needs of industry and society, while being resource efficient, non-toxic, and causing no harm to the environment. Such materials can support a wide array of sustainable activities and systems, including energy storage, carbon caption, converting solar energy into electricity, clean catalytic processes, and more. 

Climate change is arguably the greatest challenge we will face in the coming decades, and climate research plays a crucial role in understanding and responding to this urgent challenge. Climate research helps us understand the causes, mechanisms, and impacts of climate change.

With 8 billion humans on earth, humanity has had a direct impact on our planet. Research from the Weizmann Institute shows that 90% of mammal biomass can be attributed to livestock and human beings, and wild animals - such as bears, giraffes, elephants, and even whales, make up a tiny percentage of mammal life on our planet. 

To address the urgent need for clean and sustainable energy production, the Center for Renewable Energy promotes collaboration between scientists across faculties at the Weizmann Institute to develop the scientific foundation for innovative renewable energy technologies. The Center brings together different groups of scientists—theorists and experimentalists, chemists, physicists and biologists— to tackle the current challenges of harnessing and storing renewable energy.

Air pollution, a major environmental risk factor, has substantial toxicological implications for human health, leading to a significant global disease burden. A recent study underlines this concern, indicating that outdoor air pollution, including from the combustion of fossil fuels, contributed to 8.7 million premature deaths worldwide in 2018.

The majority of the Earth’s water is contained in its oceans, seas, and bays. Geographically, oceans cover about 70% of the Earth’s surface. The world’s oceans supply at least half of the world’s oxygen, produced by the photosynthetic organisms that live there, and influence Earth’s climate through a constant transfer of heat from the equator towards the poles.